Half empty? Half full? Fully half?

half yet full?

Optimism itself seems ironical. You have to be highly optimistic to even talk of optimism these days. Most of us are pessimistic about optimism! The world is not perfect and that’s a harsh reality. It’s not so easy to believe that faith is all you need; and that:

This will work out for the best…

It will surely get better…

It’s going to go well…

It’s just fine…

It’s OK…

It’s not always OK. But we have to make it ok. The glass has water to 50% of its optimum capacity. So really is it half empty, or half full, or fully half?

Does it matter?

It truly does matter. It is true: your perception of the situation definitely doesn't change the situation. But it alters your response to it. Troubles are of course troublesome, war is always shattering, a draught is catastrophic and earthquakes are ever devastating. None of these get better by ‘saying’ that they are not problems. Doing that is not optimism, it’s in fact foolishness. Jumping from the 15^th floor of building is definitive stupidity. However bungee jumping from 45 feet (15 storeys again) with a yearning for adventure (along with the faith in the harness that holds you and the boat in the sea below that will be at your rescue) is probably a leap of faith. Driving without a seatbelt at 60 miles per hour is reckless. But even cruising at 1000 miles per hour at 35,000 feet in an aircraft is realistic and not silly. Optimism matters: you need to indeed understand it to use it to your benefit.

How do I get optimistic?

We were not born with negative beliefs or irrational expectations or cognitive distortions. In fact no one ever knowledgeably taught us any of those either. Somewhere along the way we may have lost perspective and started believing in the irrational. We either were unrealistically optimistic and were let down (only to lose faith completely and get distrustful forever); or we simply never got to believing that there is ever a sunnier side to things.

Be realistic

At times we get unrealistic and foster ‘blind’ faith. The blindness is comparable to the ostrich that buries its head in the sand when danger approaches. The threat becomes invisible to it but the hazard doesn't go away. That’s not optimism. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Eyeless faith always lets you down, only to make you a believer of nihilism and dispute. Get realistic and create true-to-life expectations. You will not be let down and you will hope for the ‘best’ in proportion to the ‘best’ that you have invested.

Put in better than your best

Halfhearted effort doesn't satisfy any of us. And hoping to get a whopping 100% after studying half the book is definitely not getting us anywhere. Luck takes the side of those who have invested their best effort. ‘Put in your best and forget the rest’ is a good dictum. ‘Eat drink and rest, to excel in your test’ is not!

Keep your calm

The only one who gets deeply affected by your anger and your irritation and outbursts and your outrages is you. You raise your pulse, elevate your blood pressure, burden you heart, and break into a sweat or tremor or probably even collapse. It diminishes your own ability to deal effectively with the approaching storm. Breathe. Learn to take 5 deep breaths and relax. Your mind works better when it is at peace. A tranquil mind is mandatory for generating wise solutions. And when the issues get solved, it seems like luck was on your side (or was it optimism?)

Don't give up

Look back and reappraise the times things didn't work out. Look with a magnifying glass. If you still don't see what was botched, glance through a microscope. You will definitely know what went wrong. And that will be the learning of your lifetime. Don't get discouraged by the fortunes of others. Focus on yourself. Your greatest critic, worst challenger and best competitor are right there in the mirror in front of you. Don't miss a chance to learn from that experience.

Keep your focus

Often we focus on what we don’t have but don't realize it’s exactly what we don't need or want. We start rambling and forget what we really were aiming for. If the focus is on failure, we magnify the letdowns and keep track only of difficulties along the way. The tension drains us so bad that we lose motivation to do the task itself. So focus on your energies and your ability to achieve. Learning what doesn’t work is sometimes even more important than knowing what works. Be tangible, be organized and take concrete steps towards your goal. After all Neil Armstrong just wasn't born with wings to make him fly to the moon was he?